ldollard

I have a 2012 Nissan Altima and if we move to the UK would like to bring it over, has anyone shipped a car overseas from the USA to UK, what needs to be done in terms of duty and how much is that usually, also whats it like driving a left hand drive car in the UK.

Possibly moving in a year, sure I could just sell the car in the USA, but with having no credit in the UK, it might actually make more sense to spend $2000 to ship this car than buy a banger in London someplace.

dunroving

Shipping a car is surprisingly inexpensive (I'd guesstimate < £1,000), but you will need to make modifications in order for it to pass the MOT. There are companies that specialize in doing this.

Car insurance may be very high for a LHD, and the value at resale will be a lot lower than for a RHD. Driving a LHD will be a lot more compikcated in narrow streets and traffic of the UK, but I'm sure you'd get used to it.

There have been a few threads on this before, but not many. Very few people end up shipping their US cars so it doesn't come up much. The information above is all I can recall. You might find a previous thread by using the Search function.

[May be none of my business but I just saw your other thread on persuading your wife to come to the UK. From the tone of this thread, I thought you were probably coming back. It just struck me as discordant with the other thread so I wanted to say be careful of getting ahead of yourself, especially if your wife isn't on board yet. This sort of thing can do your head in]

UkWinds5353

Can't really offer any advice on the cost of shipping or if the idea should be pursued, but I will say you would have a sure fire conversation starter when ever people see your American modified Altima in Blighty.People certainly will do a double take when ever they spot you driving around town. That in it self might be worth shipping the car home.

Years ago I tried to buy a older model Rover from a cousin simply because I loved the way the car looked, and boy was it cool driving the car from the right side of the vehicle.Never could get him to part with it. Good luck with what ever choice you make.

Englishmum

Well - this is my experience.

Earlier this year I drove our left-hand drive Skoda Octavia estate car from Switzerland for a short trip to England.

It was fine when my spouse (or sister) were also front seat passengers. However, it was a lot of hassle at multi-storey car parks having to get out and walk around the other side of the car to pick up the parking ticket.

Worse, however is trying to pull out after parking at the side of the road when facing the direction of the flow of traffic. The visibility is compromised and you only have a wing mirror to spot oncoming traffic - not much fun when there are blind spots.

I also found it difficult pulling out of the BP petrol station at the roundabout on the A4 Bath Road near Heathrow airport as the exit to the forecourt is on an angle with a side road.

ldollard

I guess i'll make sure i avoid that gas station then haha.

I've been talking to my wife for the past few days about it and she seems a little keen, only this morning she told me that she was looking at rents in london.

But knowing my wife i really need all the information she will likely ask before we have a full blown conversation and shipping the car would be one of them.

I doubt it will need any mot mods though i looked at that and it has all the correct coloured lights that are required and the emissions being from California are probably more stringent than that of the uk

luvwelly

I agree it is foolish to permanently drive on the wrong side of the road for the type of car. I used to drive our Dutch car through the tunnel to UK when we lived in Holland. There is no advantage to it whatsoever so if I were you I would plan to sell and re-buy.
I recently imported two cars from NZ to UK and the UK-end modifications cost approx GBP1500 per car - the NZ cars had the steering wheels on the correct side for UK otherwise I definitely wouldn't have done it.

ldollard

thanks for the advice i'll have to think on this, just literally bought the car 8 months ago would hate to loose so much money on it.

dunroving

Maybe look at it this way: the 30% you lose you will make up by buying a year old car in the UK. You''ll also save all that exporting hassle. Beware false economizing.

vikingsail

I think thats an excellent point.

luvwelly

Agree. It was a borderline decision for us even with steering wheels on correct side. The UK modifications required were that they needed rear fog lights, and a speedometer showing miles - ours was just kilometres. Also had to change tyres as they didn't have right markings on them or sth.

feelbritish

I imported my car from South Africa to UK, Honda and although it was RHD, the modifications not too bad, the trouble came when my window was smashed and I needed a new window, the specs were different and I had to wait for a window to be shipped out to me. Then I had a problem with the brakes, again the specs were different and I got a family friend to bring the part with them from SA. When I sold the car, I got peanuts for it! Cars are cheap in UK compared to North America. I would be very hesitant now to import a car especially LHD.

ldollard

yeah as you all say prob not worth it. but the push button start... ah.. i'll miss that And Nissan in the UK doesn't even has a regular car which is so strange to me.

dunroving

What do you mean by a "regular car"?

ldollard

like a salon, as an example a honda accord is a regular car, a nissan juke is an suv

dunroving

OK, I don't think I'd noticed, but there aren't that many saloons made by any manufacturer for the UK market these days. They tend to be "city" cars (hatchbacks, mini-MPVs, mini-SUVs, etc.). Even cars that look like saloons/sedans have a hatchback (i.e., they don't have an enclosed boot/trunk).